It may be approaching winter, but hiking season on Bainbridge Island never ends.

The BI Metro Parks and Recreation District made two moves — but declined a third — that will expand BI’s publicly accessible trail network and outdoor spaces at its Nov 21 meeting.

Park services director Lydia Roush announced that nearly half an acre in Fletcher Bay acquired through an anonymous donation will become a new neighborhood park. No specific location was given, but the land has an existing trail network, Roush said. The district will conduct some maintenance, invasive species control and may add a viewing platform above the ravine on the property before debuting the space as a park.

Fletcher Bay sits between two of BI’s flagship natural spaces, the Grand Forest and Gazzam Lake Preserve, but smaller parks are sparse in the area. Adding the Fletcher Bay parcel aligns with the district’s Trail Vision Plan, which includes increased parkland in neighborhood centers, Roush added.

The district also unveiled two trail developments at opposite ends of BI: an official name for the new trail between W. Port Madison and Dolphin Drive at the north end, the “Arbor Trail,” plus some fencing improvements; and a land acquisition that will eventually become a path between Nute’s Pond and Sunny Hill at the south end. The BI Parks and Trails Foundation paid about $90,900 for both projects, which the district will reimburse.

For the district’s next move, board members discussed accepting a donation of a half-acre of land at the corner of Sportsman Club and Finch roads that would house the stormwater ponds for Finch Green, the affordable housing community owned by Housing Resources Bainbridge.

There are existing paths, including an easement for a city non-motorized transportation trail, but the stormwater ponds would require quite a bit of maintenance from the district, Roush said. If the district accepted the property, it would require multiple easements, memorandums and interlocal agreements for trails and the stormwater ponds.

Executive director Dan Hamlin said the area serves as a hug for trails used in the transportation corridor, but that it would be “hard to find a lot of value” in recreational use of the site. Board members were dubious. Commissioner Ken Swolgaard said that he would not want the district to be responsible for maintaining HRB’s stormwater, and the board agreed.